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July 23, 1999
District 88 gets high marks on parent surveyOf those that responded, most are satisfied with work of city's public school systemBy ERIC SERRANO Journal Staff Writer NEW ULM -- Parents of New Ulm public school students are pleased with the education being offered to their children, according to preliminary results of a survey conducted bu District 88 in the spring. Ninety-two percent of the 600 parents who returned the 46-question survey said they were satisfied with the education their children are receiving within the district, according to the data compiled by Curriculum Director Bill Sprung. The district mailed out 1,800 surveys. Sprung told the school board Thursday the numbers in the survey represent a, "snapshot" of the district's performance in the eyes of parents, seeking responses covering the four broad goals laid out by the board last year: increased academic achievement, improved communications, increased parental involvement, and providing a safer and secure learning environment. Responses regarding academic achievement ranged from a high of 99 percent who felt their children are learning to think, reason, and solve problems, to a low of 76 percent who feel their children are not learning effective foreign language skills. While the bulk of responses overall ranged from the mid 80s to 99 and 100 percent, Sprung said lower numbers were returned in areas of student safety and security. He told the board those responses could be attributed, in part, to the timing of the survey which was mailed to parents in mid-April and returned in early May. "I should emphasize that the numbers for student safety are ones which I can't really explain, except to say that this was administered about the same time as Columbine (Colo.) and after several bomb threats," Sprung speculated. "Parents were given the opportunity to add comments at the end of each section. That section had a lot of additional comments that said things like, 'Since Columbine...,' and mentioned the bomb threats." Although the survey offered passing marks to the district for its efforts, Superintendent Harold Remme said the board shouldn't be content to rest on its laurels. "I think the message we want to send is that we want to use these numbers for action," he said. "I think if we do that parents will know that when we ask questions of them we want their input. And, that input has an impact of the board's future decisions." Sprung plans future presentations to the board concerning the data compiled in the survey, including a breakdown of responses by elementary and secondary parents, and by school building. In other business, the board decided to move ahead with the creation of a long-range planning task force composed of board members, district administrators, teachers, parents and community leaders. The ten-year plan will update a 1993 study of the district's facility needs, adding and integrating a projection of curricular issues to the mix. Set to be in place by early fall, the task force may have the benefit of outside assistance, as board members consider whether or not to utilize a consultant on the project. University of Minnesota, Mankato professor Dr. Prudence Gushwa, appeared before the board Thursday to offer a glimpse of how she might be able to facilitate the task force's work. Gushwa teaches prospective administrators and other education graduate students and uses some of those in her classes to assist with both the facilitation of the study and to meet the curricular needs of her classes. Remme told the board future meetings could include similar presentations from other prospective consulting firms, including Dana, Larson, Roubal and Associates, Inc., the firm which assisted with the 1993 study.
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